In the West Indies 2009

,Here is the plan for the rest of the day, Finish project work from overnight and if there is time commence work on the photos getting ready to create disks, About 10am get ready and go into town centre for fruit, free newspaper and then enjoy bacon roll and coffee at the Ship and Royal. Return home and continuing working on photo disks but watch start of first Test in West Indies from early afternoon with sound turned down and then listen to Sunderland at Blackburn in fourth round of FA cup replay this evening. Begin the Joan Baez and Bob Dylan fest.

The morning went very well. It was colder out than usual because of a sharper wind. The temperature registered at Newcastle was minus 1. The pavements were dry and although overcast the umbrella was not needed. After collecting the free morning paper from the bus station, I purchased 3 pounds weight of cherries and seven large bananas for £4.50 and then made my way to the Ship and Royal where there were only two others enjoying a late breakfast or mid morning snack. I requested coffee with cold milk this time and it came immediately, hot and enjoyable and within what seemed only a few seconds more a large bap with the bacon. I read the paper from cover to cover forgetting to leave it for other customers. There was no one in the premises when I left. It was going as planned and my spirits remained good as I tackled the hill homeward.

On return, disaster, I discovered that I had not made a copy of all the work on photos undertaken during the course of last year. Fortunately I had had made two disks as presents, one comprehensive and one partial although not of the whole revised file. I now have to wait for copies of these to made and sent back to me before I can assess the extent of the loss and how much I will need to do again. This changed my mood completely, unsettling, lowering spirits and leaving the rest if the day without focus.

I also experienced one moment of terror and pain, not I hasten to add because of my own experience, but the news before bedtime that a teenage school girl had been killed when the large makeshift toboggan had gained such speed that it had crashed through a fencing catapulting one of the girls, although this was the one killed was not said. I experienced the reported excitement as the girls enjoyed the snow and adventure similar to that on the fair and theme park rides and then the horror and terrors as the vehicle gained speed because of the sharpness and length of the slope and force because of the size and numbers on board. Just as someone always drowns swimming in inland waters during the heights of summer there is inevitability about such news, except the shock for the individual and their families and that the lives of the other girls will also be changed. There is also a brilliant advertisement showing a child in a womb asking about the life it will lead in the world, will there be enough food, will it avoid sickness, will it celebrate its birth day at five years. Thousands will not. I give thanks for my own life and feel ashamed at my own concerns about death, and physical and mental disability, It does not help.

I watched the start of the cricket after an episode of Pie in the Sky which I had seen before. Sabina Park, Kingston Jamaica had the reputation of being blisteringly fast with pace men sending balls flying towards the head as much the wicket. There also used to be huge noisy crowds. Change one the ground has been developed with a new stand cutting out some of the view The ground appears about only a third full or two thirds empty. This reflects the failure of the national team over the past decade which in turn reflects the switch of interest of the better paying sports of football and basket ball.

It was the third change which shocked. Apparently the wicket area has been re-laid with new earth and the combination of this and new management has led to a transformation, Instead of the fast surface with its glassy sheen it now resembles thee wickets of the Indian sub continent, flat and designed for spin, and which are difficult of the English team as we do no create world class spinners, relying on pace and medium face. Now we know why two spinners were picked for the squad and why the West Indies played two in the first team with both bowling for long sessions on the first day of the first test because they were able to get the ball to turn, all unheard of before. England , who won the toss and chose to bat struggled losing early wickets.

I have not commented before that Kevin Petersen has lost his position as Team Captain following his demand that there be a change in Team Coach/manager when it was refused to have Michael Vaughn the previous Captain as part of the squad for the tour.. It has now emerged that the Test and County cricket Board through its Coach manager had shifted the emphasis away from individual players having responsibility for their game into the creation of a team approach with lots of back up staff advising on all aspects of the training, match preparation and play. This has changed during the period that the national team as been without manager coach. One commentator and former player mentioned that the players had carried their own cricket bags off the coach into the ground this morning.

Andrew Strauss, the new captain, immediately suffered the Captain’s curse, nervous, surviving a dropped catch and then out scoring les than ten. Graham Bell who regularly plays himself in getting thirty or forty runs and then is out without ever making the kind of score which justified his continued inclusion, and thus it was so again. Graham Cook was out for four and England went into lunch 3 down for seventy odd runs. Everything now rested on former Captain Kevin Petersen who was partnered with former one day captain Durham’s Paul Collingwood. The one irritating thing about my large screen TV is that I am unable to read the cricket scores at the bottom edge so I resorted to the a live broadcast of the scoreboard on the BBC internet. I would listen to the commentary except it is out of synchronization with the TV picture. The live screen also failed later.

When I am upset because of some failure or set back, or when I am tired when I want to work, I over eat, usually the wrong things. Breakfast was a cup of soup and a defrosted brown finger roll. Lunch the bacon roll with coffee, and with a portion of the cherries on return. Mid afternoon I should have settled just for dry crackers covered with pickle and a cup of tea, but I could not resist a quarter of the toffee cheese. Azda has a selection of these medium size proving four good portions at only £1 include summer fruits, strawberry, mandarins and lemon. I have resisted until my visit and then kept in the freezer for several days without touching. The problem with this size is that one then has to eat the other three portions once defrosted. However I do have the freezer saw so in future will divide into four portions before defrosting. It is time for some fish with vegetables which I did not enjoy as much as I should. I opened a tin of corn and baby carrots which will provide two portions to go with a chicken Kiev tomorrow. This was followed by the remaining portion of grapes. I also felt like a beer. I have kept to the no alcohol regime since celebrating the new Year, except for one whisky for medicinal purpose after returning from a match in cold weather Last night I had a Peroni, reducing by stock to eight. I did not enjoy as I should because I knew I should not.

The omens were not good for Sunderland this evening as before the game it was announced that Cisse who did not travel and Kenwyn Jones, who was on the bench would be rested. To give time for them to recover from knocks received during the Derby. Talking of Derby, Nigel Clough celebrated their fist win at the weekend and went to Notts Forest last night in the fourth round replay of the FA Cup where he had played for his father and scored the scored which won the League Cup. His team were two goals down within a matter of minutes but somehow managed to fight back, playing good football to win by three goals to two,

Clearly management policy at Sunderland is to concentrate on staying in the Premiership. However it looked as if a miracle was going to happen as Sunderland scored early on against the run of play and then survive attack after attack until an equaliser just before half time. There was no further scoring in the second half and the game went into extra time and looked as if would go to penalties despite Sunderland having the better of this part of the match. Until with a couple of minutes of the final whistle, Blackburn scored and dreams crashed for another year.

I did consider watching again The Children and interesting film. Seen in theatre and now on DVD but I was not just in the mood A DVD of a rare Antonioni film arrived this morning but too late to view over lunch, perhaps after the football and the cricket. Collingwood was out clearly leg before and the heavens have opened and a tropical cloudburst driven the players into their respective dressing rooms. Durham promised to send the membership books out late January but has not arrived. I have been successful in getting one of the reduced price annual edition of Wisden’s celebrating Durham‘s winning the county championship. It should arrive in March.

I will also mention having achieved a continuing 100 record at Hearts with over 404 successive wins. At Spider I am playing on after reaching 101 and now making another major effort to achieve a run of 101 games as level one chess. The rain has stopped as quick as it arrived in Caribbean. . Play was to start in thirteen minutes but the covers were then relayed as more rain was forecast. Peterson was out three short of 100 but Flint off commenced to make a solid innings when bad light stopped play He was then 43 not out and the team 236 for 5.

I did listen to some Joan Baez but not as much as originally intended. Her voice never ceases to amaze.

From the essential Joan Baez, The night they drove; Amazing Grace; Boulder to Birmingham; Swing Low Sweet Chariot; Oh Happy Day; Love is just a four letter word; Forever Young; Diamonds and Rust; Lily Rosemary ; Please come to Boston; Suzanne, I shall be Released; Blowing in the Wind; The Ballad of Sacco; Love song to a stranger.

From Diamonds : Prison Trilogy; Rainbow Road, Love is a stranger; Myths; In the Quiet morning; To Bobby; Song of Bangladesh; Tumbleweed; Imagine; Diamond and Rust; Fountain of Sorrow; Never Dreamed you’d Leave; Children and all that Jazz;

Newcastle lose another Manager, Sunderland win and English cricket team on verge of glory

As forecast there has been a break in the weather this morning with the sun shining and a warmer feel when I went outside at the back, briefly. However On Monday morning when I moved the car to enable the Sky HD installers to gain access to the rear of the property the back lane was frozen ice, as were the street pavements. Fortunately the roadways down the hill had been gritted and remained clear. There had been not further snow but moisture could have made the roads treacherous.

The bathroom wash basin can be used again. The waste pipe goes outside the house and around to the side with a gentle camber before reaching the down pipe and I assume will freeze and block if the water remains in the upper section when temperatures are exceptionally below freezing. This is the likely explanation after having to bring down stuff to use at the kitchen sink with a small mirror hanging on a hook strategically placed suggesting it had been used for the same purpose before. There is relief that there has been no damage and the inconvenience only lasted a couple of days.

I still have not been out and about since Thursday morning because of the start of the second Test in the evening and staying up to watch the morning’s play of the first three days and taking the radio with me on going to bed so I could catch up on the score when waking. The consequence is that I have been zombie like for the day although this morning I slept long some six hours from around 4 m until just before the Archers weekly catch up at 10.15.

I had quiet hopes that the English cricket team would do well against Australia this time around. Four years they were thrashed 5.0 after winning the Ashes at home in 2006. The first game was potentially a disaster until the remarkable second innings ending when Cook 235 not out Trott took the total to 517 for the loss of only Strauss110 and thus saved the match and gained the ascendancy. They had scored more than the Australians first innings of 481 and their record breaking partnership between Hussey and Haddin of 307 by 22 runs. A number of other records had been broken.

Could England repeat their success in the second game? They had been all out of for only 260 in their first innings at Brisbane on a batting wicket and the pitch at Adelaide was reputed to be as good, except on the first morning and then on the final day when its dryness could lead to break up from the bowler’s footmarks and turn greatly for the spinners. Australia won the too and decided to bad, a decision they were to rue, although given the situation any Captain winning the toss would have done likewise.

What happened has already become cricket legend. Katich was run out on the second ball of the first over without facing a ball. Then Australian Captain Ricky Pointing was out first ball as Anderson was able to find some ball swing and worse was to follow when out of salts Clarke went for 2, also caught Swann of the bowling of Anderson. Any late comers did not believe a scoreboard which showed 2 runs and three wickets. There was nearly a 4th wicket before Watson and Hussey settled down, and the total was in the 90.s before the next wicket. However Australia could only reach 245 as their tail struggled with the last four managing only 9 between them. What would England in reply, given that the first three had each achieved over 100 runs?

Another legend was to be created after Strauss went for his second 0 in three innings Cook with already 67 and 195 not out in his first innings continued making a total of 148 before dismissal a total of 420 runs and an average of 210. Trott supported him well for 78 but it was previously out of form Kevin Peterson who demonstrated that his career has not ended in failure after the removal of the captaincy. He made a magnificent double century, the highest score of his career. There has been great optimism in the British camp and in the media generally about the possible win. I am more cautious because what the English team achieved in the last match the Australians are also capable. I did not stay up long on Sunday night having been notified of the arrival of the Sky installers, but did take the radio with me to the bedroom as well as an alarm clock. It was not a great night, restless with several wakings but I slept more than I appreciated at the time, Australia had progressed to within 150 of the total required to make England bat again for the lost of four wickets. Hussey is again on form with 44 not out and is yet to be joined by Haddin. Breaking this partnership and getting both these wickets early on will be essential as the weather forecast for the day is not a good one.

Sunday had been a day of mixed fortunes for the Tyne Wear football clubs who unusually followed each other on Sky TV. Newcastle were first away to Wolves who had followed them from the Championship into the Premiership lasts season. Wolves have not had a victory over Newcastle in recent years and given the recent roller coaster of performances I suspected they would find this game difficult. In the event they put up a poor performance missing Nolan and Barton in the middle and lost 3.1. Today the manager was sacked something which has been on the card for sometime prevented by the 5.1 Derby defeat of Sunderland. It is evident the shameful management have a successor in mind.

Sunderland on the other hand dared to play their three forwards for the home tie with struggling West Ham, although the Hammers have had major success in the last week beating Manchester United in the League Cup Quarter final. Both teams played well but overall Sunderland were worth their 1.0 victory and go to 7th in the table. They have lost at least half a dozen points in the closing minutes of games and this could have been a similar situation. Without these losses they could have been contesting a top place. They have the making of a very good side.

Although there has been no overnight snow it was very cold this morning and has remained so during the day as evening approaches. The Sky installers had considerable problems and the two young men were here for a good 90 minutes moving the three section ladder around the block three times and using a full kettle of hot water to unfreeze the existing cable which had been slung over the roof from the west facing dish to the east facing rear. There was a momentary hesitation working out which was the sky cable and which the terrestrial aerial as the right one only had to be cut in order to remove and replace by the new. In much publicised previous installations the existing dish and cable was used with the new Sky box to cut costs with the consequence there was little change to the picture. Even with the proper work the difference is not striking, given recent improvements in the general picture transmission. However it was to me in terms of the detailed background and an overall sharpness and clarity. Immediately on installation the Wizard of Oz was being reshow the difference was significant. As there was also a showing of White Christmas I turned to that and only missed the opening section concluding the film is better than the musical and a better film that previously remembered. I am not a Danny Kaye fan but this was one of his better performances.

I also had a good shop at the supermarket having planned what was needed in advance with washing stuff , tablets, stain remover, softeners, with other household items such as washing up sponges, kitchen rolls, storage bags for us in the freezer and toilet rolls. I had made notes for such items as apple sauce, custard powder, curry sauce(balti) and sugar which I was out of stock. I managed to get some puff pastry mince pies for the first time and could not resist a bread and butter pudding which had been reduced in price by 20%. For Christmas New Year storage there were little sausages wrapped in bacon which I adore and one can of Pringle crisps, plus speciality cheeses and a carton of dates. There was salad (lettuce, coleslaw, tomatoes but not sweet peppers) and meats (pressed pork slices and bits) but no salami together with a pieces of quiche which I enjoyed at lunchtime after a cuppa soup and followed by the bread and butter pudding. I enjoyed three lamp chops yesterday and a mixture of scampi and Indian starters with beans and peas Saturday, I will use up some existing pork and lamb chops this week getting in chickens and lamb shank next week with the annual chunk of gammon, hopefully for New Year rather than Christmas. I need a trip to Asda for salami, liquorice, chocolate, paper and perhaps long socks leaving just before six to avoid the hassle of the £1 coin fee. I forgot the lemon and the ice cream to go with the pancakes. I will await until I go to Morrison Seaburn Weds

Football at New Year 2003

It has not been a day of achievement. The day was governed by staying up late, the cold, going to football, eating too well in the evening and moments of panic. I was better organised for going to the match than pm Boxing Day having worked out in advance the time needed for preparations and to arrive and get the desired parking space. I was in place long enough to slowly drink a thermos of onion soup. I had first put hot water to warm the metal contained so even though the journey took half an hour the soup was kettle boiling hot. I waited half an hour before walking to the ground noting the lack of fitness as the cold bit into the bare skin of my face.

Yesterday afternoon as I had made my way to buy the ticket, I listened to an interview with an Antarctic explorer who recounted how on the two earlier missions to reach the South Pole by a route not accomplished before he had nearly lost his life. In the first instance because the special boots had not arrived he had worn footwear providing less protection with the consequence that an organism had entered his leg of a flesh eating kind and fortunate he had been able to visit a local doctor who had recently been on a course about recognising and treating his very condition. In the second, although tired and knowing he should not have continued, he did so for a short distance but sufficiently to fall into ice solidifying water and where he had only seconds to psychologically motivate himself sufficiently to get himself out before in effect he became frozen in. Married with a family and twenty five years of experience he did not regard himself as an adrenalin risk taking junkie but as with any aspect of day to day life however good the planning, the preparations, the equipment, the knowledge and the experience it is still likely that the unexpected will occur and the difference between surviving to tell the take and not, can be a matter of luck, seconds, motivation and mentality or combinations of such things. He answered questions including from one young man who said he liked the cold and wanted to know how to get the kind of sponsorship or grants which would enable such adventuring. It was this statement about liking the cold which came to mind as I walked. I do not.

I arrived in the stadium with half an hour announced before the kick of and the number of people congregating around the food and drink outlets. The television screens or go to the toilets suggested that despite the special ticket offer of £5 compared to £17.50 for seniors and children the ground was likely to be less than half full. The Maximum capacity is 48000 and I estimated 15000 to 175000 as the match progress. There as just over 20000 with significant areas of emptiness, especially behind the goal mouth where I had sat on Boxing Day. This time my seat was in the East stand upper tier even more central than when I had the season ticket and also not as far up. It was an ideal position providing an excellent view of both goalmouths, higher enough to see the movement and the organisation of the teams but also close enough to feel part of the action. I had no difficulty in buying myself a coffee before entering the seating area and at half time I had no difficulty in buying a packet of crisps as well as going to the toilet and finding a place to rest against a wall before returning to the seat.

The main reason for the poor attendance is that only a couple of weeks ago the same team being played in this third round of the Football Association Cup had beaten Sunderland 4.0. A disgraceful result given the standing of the visiting team who had not had a good time since the departure of their manager to Newcastle, and more recently appointed to Blackburn, Sam Alladyce, who through his agent had indicated an interest in the Sunderland Manager’s job, vacated on a voluntary basis by Roy Keane following this defeat in question. Sunderland supporters feared another thrashing and even those who braved the cold like me feared the worst, according to comments from those sitting around during the opening third of the game. In truth Bolton looked the better organised and more skilful team during this period. They had good movement with accurate passing. However as the game went on I was very impressed with the work and defensive qualities of Carlos Edwards who usually plays on a wing but this time was a tour de force in central midfield. Gabriel Cisse is a colourful character with a Mohican hair strip which he colours brightly, changing from game to game. He has great speed but at Liverpool promised much but failed to deliver and returned to France. What has impressed me and more so on this occasion was his tireless running always to good purpose. Kenwyn Jones on the other hand had no touch at all and several times put his own side in difficulty. However as is sometimes the case he scored a brilliantly headed goal to give Sunderland the lead and Cisse appeared to make the contest safe later. However Bolton rallied and scored what has to be described as a soft goal and the excitement commenced especially as the referee awarded four minutes of extra time.

It was a day of few great Cup surprises although Hartlepool did beat Stoke and Chelsea were held to a home draw by Southend. Newcastle were nil nil at Hull where the main interest is the growing speculation that the best UK keeper, Shay Given, wants out along with Michael Owen. My hunch is that they are both on their way to Manchester City where is would not surprise me that the bad run leads to the end of Mark Hughes and his replacement, Kevin Keegan, ho ho!

I had a little whisky on return before cooking a medium size chicken, enjoying poacher’s relish on oatmeal biscuit crackers as a starter, then having a portion of mircowaved vegetables, then, the four medium size roast potatoes and then half the chicken breast with the rest chopped up later for stir fries. For lunch I had eaten three large slices of cold ham cut from the joint with remaining salami and pickles followed by the last of the ice cream, while this evening I had the penultimate portion of the Christmas cake slab with a glass of Beaujolais.

That finished me off for the night without energy, dozing in front of the telly and no inclination to work, tread or even play games against the computer. After successfully completing the first 101 games of Free Cell after the great computer crash, I had set the game aside to concentrate on the other four being played with the intention of not returning to this game until the 101 wins was achieved in these other games. I came close with Spider, another form of patience winning 93 games in succession before encountering a game which I do not believe could be won despite going back to the original allocation of cards, time, and time, and time, and time again. The present streak is 30, having reached 67 on a previous occasion and then making an unintentional and avoidable error so that 314 of 324 games played have been won. I also had a disaster with chess having made a mistake after a successful run of 87 games, but unlike Spider one had complete control of every aspect of the play as White with a reverse move button and therefore while later night draws are excusable the two defeats are not so the tally is 350 games played 350 won and a long long way to get back to the 87th game. This contrasts with Hearts where it is impossible to control the outcome of a full game because you are but one of four players with the computer playing the three other hands. This was the game where I originally only won 11% and gradually increased to over 40% by playing a restricted game in which the outcome was loaded in my favour about 9 to 1. By loading the game even more so, but not completely I am running at 92% winning 85 of 92 games and a continuous in run of 33. There is no point is playing the same cards the same way. Having said I would not continue with Free Cell Hearts until I achieved a second 101 over Christmas I could not resist seeing if I could still work out how to complete a game from a spatial examination rather than repeated use of the back button and to date I have complete 123 games in succession at 100% win. However this is only a satisfactory achievement if everything else is excluded. My mind was much given to what is happening in the Hamas controlled part of Palestine which I continue to suspect has become the first Test of what can only be described as the Oil, Arab, Middle East, Muslim, Terrorism Israel Palestine problem for the new President Obama Administration. It is indeed a dangerous situation but who actually means what they are saying or appearing to do is impossible for the likes pf you are me know,

Being in a state of not wanting to do anything but feeling not ready for sleep I got myself into quite a state by the time I went up to bed about midnight. It was not a good decision.